Courses
General Principles : Safety – IPSC matches must be designed, constructed and conducted with due consideration to safety. : Quality – The value of an IPSC match is determined by the quality of the challenge presented in the course design. Courses of fire must be designed primarily to test a competitor’s IPSC shooting skills, not their physical abilities. : Balance – Accuracy, Power and Speed are equivalent elements of IPSC shooting, and are expressed in the Latin words "Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas" (“DVC”). A properly balanced course of fire will depend largely upon the nature of the challenges presented therein, however, courses must be designed, and IPSC matches must be conducted in such a way, as to evaluate these elements equally. : Diversity – IPSC shooting challenges are diverse. While it is not necessary to construct new courses for each match, no single course of fire must be repeated to allow its use to be considered a definitive measure of IPSC shooting skills. : Freestyle – IPSC matches are freestyle. Competitors must be permitted to solve the challenge presented in a freestyle manner and, for handgun and shotgun matches, to shoot targets on an "as and when visible" basis. After the start signal, courses of fire must not require mandatory reloads nor dictate a shooting position, location or stance, except as specified below. However, conditions may be created, and barriers or other physical limitations may be constructed, to compel a competitor into shooting positions, locations or stances. : Levels – Level I and Level II matches are not required to comply strictly with the freestyle requirements or round count limitations. : Short Courses and Classifiers may include mandatory reloads and may dictate a shooting position, location and/or stance. General Courses and Classifiers may specify shooting strong hand or weak hand only without the need to enforce compliance using physical means (e.g. hook-and-loop fasteners etc.). The specified hand must be used exclusively from the point stipulated for the remainder of the stage. If a written stage briefing specifies strong or weak hand only, Rules will apply. If a competitor is merely required to carry, retain or grasp an object during his attempt at a course of fire, Rules will apply. Course designers may give competitors freedom to await the Start Signal anywhere within the boundaries of a well demarcated firing zone. : Difficulty – IPSC matches present varied degrees of difficulty. No shooting challenge may be appealed as : being prohibitive. This does not apply to non-shooting challenges, which should reasonably allow for : differences in competitor's height and physical build. : Challenge - IPSC matches recognize the challenges presented when using full power firearms in dynamic : shooting, and must always employ a minimum power factor to be attained by all competitors to reflect this Types of Courses IPSC matches may contain the following types of courses of fire: General Courses of Fire: : Short Courses – Must not require more than 12 rounds to complete. Course design and construction must not require more than 9 scoring hits from any single location or view. IPSC Handgun Rules, January 2012 Edition 2 : Medium Courses – Must not require more than 24 rounds to complete. Course design and construction must not require more than 9 scoring hits from any single location or view, nor allow a competitor to shoot all targets in the course of fire from any single location or view. : Long Courses – Must not require more than 32 rounds to complete. Course design and construction must not require more than 9 scoring hits from any single location or view, nor allow a competitor to shoot all targets in the course of fire from any single location or view. Special Courses of Fire: : The recommended balance for an IPSC sanctioned match is a ratio of 3 Short Courses to 2 Medium Courses to 1 Long Course. Significant variance from this ratio will not be approved by IPSC. : Classifiers – Courses of fire authorized by a Regional Director and/or IPSC, which are available to competitors seeking a regional and/or international classification. Classifiers must be set up in : accordance with these rules and be conducted strictly in accordance with the notes and diagrams : accompanying them. Results must be submitted to the authorizing entity in the format required : (with the applicable fees, if any), in order for them to be recognized. : Shoot-Off – An event conducted separately from a match. Two eligible competitors : simultaneously engage two identical and adjacent target arrays in a process of elimination. : Each target array must not exceed 12 rounds and each competitor must perform a : mandatory reload between shooting at his first and final targets. Category:Courses